The transparency president and top secret free trade bill.

[TenBears]

Hopefully it will be as good as NAFTA, remember everyone saying Ross Perot was crazy?

Extreme secrecy eroding support for Obama's trade pact

Classified briefings and bill-readings in basement rooms are making members queasy.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...de-pact-critics-say-117581.html#ixzz3ZE84VJYn

 

[TenBears]

If you don't know about the TPP, study what you can. Even though congress is debating something that is being kept top secret, there is some info. out there.

http://youtu.be/M9A0QUdkdf4

 

[dennishoddy]

This is scary as hell. Although the administration says the negotiations have to be kept secret because of the nature of them, why is that? I don't know of any trade agreements that have been subjected to this level of secrecy.

 

[mugsy]

Negotiations should be in secret - if you think there is any other way to work out a multi-lateral agreement framework then you are mistaken. However, having said that once a framework is created then Congress needs a reasonable period to debate, amend, etc. Negotiations need privacy but debate before ratification should and must be open.

 

[IndVet]

The Democrats have to decide who they want to screw. Then the Republicans have to decide who they want to screw. Then they all decide who to screw collectively. That kind of mass screwing takes secrecy to work out.

 

[TenBears]

“We can always do better on transparency,” he said, but added that “there is no area of policy where there is closer collaboration between the executive and Congress than trade policy.”
Froman, who said his office has held more than 1,600 briefings with lawmakers over the TPP, asserted that his office also has released summaries of proposed provisions.
Yet the actual text of the agreement remains under lock and key. That represents a significant break from the Bush administration, which in 2001 published the text of a proposed multinational trade agreement with Latin American nations.
“It is incomprehensible to me that leaders of major corporate interests who stand to gain enormous financial benefits from this agreement are actively involved in the writing of the TPP, while at the same time, the elected officials of this country, representing the American people, have little or no knowledge of what’s in it,” wrote U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in a letter to Froman last month.
Sanders’ office confirms that congressional lawmakers are permitted to view the text of the agreement only in the Trade Representative’s office, without their own staff members or experts present. They are not allowed to take copies of the agreement back to Capitol Hill for deeper, independent evaluation.
Despite those restrictions, specific details of the agreement’s text have surfaced from unauthorized leaks - some of which appear to contradict the Obama administration’s promises

 

[Ace_on_the_Turn]

This is scary as hell. Although the administration says the negotiations have to be kept secret because of the nature of them, why is that? I don't know of any trade agreements that have been subjected to this level of secrecy.

"I don't know of any trade agreements that have been subjected to this level of secrecy." Wonder how that could be...

 

[Glocktogo]

"I don't know of any trade agreements that have been subjected to this level of secrecy." Wonder how that could be...

Most transparent opaque administration in history...

 

[TenBears]

If you want to hear the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Obama administration is hoping to pass, you’ve got to be a member of Congress, and you’ve got to go to classified briefings and leave your staff and cellphone at the door.

If you’re a [congressional] member who wants to read the text, you’ve got to go to a room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center and be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read, and forced to hand over any notes you make before leaving.

And no matter what, you can’t discuss the details of what you’ve read.

Truly, even more than with ObamaCare, this is a case of “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”

 

[CHenry]

I've been following this for weeks. It really pisses me smooth off.